Paul asked, “ Who art Thou, L o r d ; Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?” You will observe that “ Lord” comes last in the first question and first in the second question. A fter we meet the Lord, He ought always to come first. Some are always asking “ W hy?” but a successful ministry is built on “ Who” and “ What,” the vision and the venture, the Fair K ing and the Far Country. “ A fter he had seen the vision, immediately we endeavored to go ” (Acts 16 :10 ), - that is the order. Paul saw the Lord. So did Isaiah and cried, “ Woe is m e !” So did Job and abhorred himself. So did Habakkuk and his body trembled and rotten ness entered his bones. So did Daniel and his come liness was turned to corruption. So did John and fell at His feet as one dead. Moses failed on his first try as deliverer because “ he looked this way and that way.” He succeeded when “ he endured as see ing Him who is invisible.” God’s preacher must be a man who has looked unto God and been brightened so that his face is not ashamed. There must be the beholding, the brightness and the boldness. Paul was a MAN with a MISSION. The Lord said unto h im : “ I have appeared unto thee fo r this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness both o f these things which thou hast seen, and o f those things in the which I will appear unto thee; delivering thee from the people, and from the Gen tiles, unto whom now I SEND THEE . . .” The true minister is saved and sent, converted and called. Ministers used to believe they had received a Divine call. Today many enter the ministry as a profession just as they would enter law or medi cine. But preaching is a calling, and whatever other reasons young Samuel may have, he should hear the Unmistakable Voice. It is not enough to like to preach or merely to feel that one ought to preach. There must be the holy compulsion that says, “ Woe is unto me i f I preach not the Gospel!” “ We cannot but speak,” said the apostles and that preacher is in true apostolic succession who bums Jeremiah’s holy bone-fire that will not let him keep silent, as Amos put it, in an evil time. The preacher is a MAN with a MISSION, called that he may be sent. He is a missionary, an ambassador. What was the objective o f Paul’s mis sion : “ To open their eyes and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power o f Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness o f sins, and inheritance among them which are sanc
tified by faith that is in me.” What a m ission! The preacher is an eye-opener. He is to turn men from idols to serve the living and true God. You will observe in passing what a radical transformation conversion brings. In the light o f this and similar passages, one cannot help thinking o f multitudes in our churches today who give no evidence o f ever having turned from idols to God. This is a mission that brings men and women to forgiveness o f sins and inheritance among the saints. All is by faith in Jesus Christ. The preacher is no mere reformer or idealist out with religious whitewash to tidy up the world a little. He has a revolutionary mission. He is out to transform men, to open their eyes to their real condition, to turn them from darkness to light, to deal with the prob lem o f sin, to make saints o f them. The recipe is, “ Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.” No man has any business undertaking all that without making sure o f conversion and call ing, o f being saved and sent. Again, this MAN with a MISSION has also a MESSAGE. Paul declared to Agrippa that he was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision. “ Having therefore obtained help o f God, I continue unto this day, witnessing both to small and great, saying none other things than those which the prophets and Moses did say should com e; that Christ should suffer and that He should be the first that should rise from the dead, and should shew light unto the people, and to the Gentiles.” Here we have a preacher obedient to his call. He gets help from God. He continues faithfully, witnessing both to small and great. Some forget the small fishing fo r the higher-ups and some forget the higher-ups, not remembering that while “ not MANY ” o f them are chosen, God did not say “ NOT AN Y .” What then is the MESSAGE? “ None other things than those which the prophets and Moses did say should com e: That Christ should suffer, and that He should be the first that should rise from the dead, and should shew light unto the people, and to the Gentiles.” Paul begins with the Old Testament as the Word o f God, which not a few o f his succes sors seem to ignore altogether. Then he presents the Gospel, Christ dead and risen, as he declared to the Corinthians. A fter almost two thousand years o f preaching, there is still amazing ignorance as to what constitutes a Gospel sermon. The Gospel is not that Christ came, Christ lived, Christ taught or even that Christ died unless you follow the news o f His death fo r our sins with His resurrection fo r our
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THE KING'S BUSINESS
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